Environmental Presence

The pencil rests against the pad of paper Cala has been staring at for a substantial length of time now. Her rich brown hair leaning against the tree that graciously accepts her and her apparently extreme writers block. She looks up at the abundance of leaves and branches that seem to extend further out every time she comes here, sometimes hoping they'll extend so far as to pick her up and out of her mundane world that feels oh so smothering to her. All the people, judgmental and oblivious to what truly matters, wishing that some of the less understanding people would come up here and sit for awhile.

She thought to herself If they Just to sit here and see how the grass always coexists with the dirt with no fatal attempt to anger each other. They are who they are whether a pebble is out of place or a little sharper than the rest; the blades of grass which whistle among the wind bend in obvious acceptance, knowing everything is where it should be. The flower which leans against the old and wise tree that has seen all of the plants come and go through out the seasons. If only she could just let the roots of this huge maple tree come up and wrap themselves around her and pull her in towards her family where she can just... “Hey!” she heard someone say faintly with a snapping sound accompanying It. Turning out to be just Everett trying to get any little attention he could from her when she's in this state of mind.

Cala looked up dazed “This better be good, I was just about to go on a date with Brad Pitt,” she said with a mix of laughter and intense sarcasm.

“Sorry, next time I'll wait until the drool stops,” he said also laughing with his complete understanding for her annoyance of celebrities.

She was about to get up to accompany Everett when he, out of no where, took a leaf for hostage “You move and this lovely crisp leaf gets it,” he said with as much seriousness as he could muster. This stunt only made her laugh and smile considering Everett was the only one who truly understood why she felt so close to the environment.

“Ok,ok, I surrender,” Cala exclaimed with a laughable approach for fear, “But if I may ask, why is me sitting here so dire that you'd threaten that poor leaf's life?”

“Well If you've forgotten, it is your birthday today so I brought you something,” he now said nonchalantly while the leaf sprung back to its normal position, “I hope you like it.” as he said this there was a tinge of worry, but before Cala could respond he reached into his mossy green back pack and pulled out a delicately wrapped gift. While passing it to her he slid his body down the length of the tree trunk until he landed softly against the grass.

She accepted the gift while thanking him without the realization that the pen and paper had fallen off her lap and landed beside her. Looking the gift over she was about to do her traditional 'shake it until you come up with a good enough hint to what it is' trick, but before the present even could compete with gravity Everett put his hand over the gift “You know this is quite delicate, so before you shake the life out of it you may want to take that into consideration first,” he said chuckling knowing she was disappointed.

“Fine,” Cala said with a sigh, “This better be worth the will power I'm using right now,” she said, now completely enthused with the gift and the task of unwrapping it. She went for the bottom of the box first and tore off the ribbon. With the excitement consuming her she shredded through the paper until she reached the box. She opened the lid and stared at the object and was instantly overwhelmed with the beauty of it. It was an oval shaped object made of pure crystal, He was right, she thought to herself because this miraculous piece of craftsmanship look so incredibly delicate and fragile.

“You going to take it out, or just stare at it?” he teased her a little confused but still amused by her unexpected reaction.

“Oh, sorry,” she said now remembering she had an audience, “It's just so amazing, Thank you Everett,” Now leaning in to hug him which he accepted happily knowing for sure she like it.

Cala gained up the courage and lifted it out of the tissue filled box. Her hands held it carefully while she tilted it back and fourth slowly in the sunlight. She noticed it had swirls carved all through it and imbedded in the swirls she could see glints of green all through the crevices. The oval shaped globe was set flawlessly on top of a silver stand which had no green undertone, but it still fit perfectly because there was a green silk ribbon tied delicately around the feet of the stand. After admiring all of the amazing features she let her eyes waver from it for a second and looked at Everett who had been staring at her this whole time.

She laughed a some what nervous laugh “I really like this Everett.”

He looked a little confused not knowing why he felt like there was some sort of connection between her and that globe; It was almost like they were long lost siblings and were just reunited for the first time in years. He pulled himself away from his thoughts long enough to say “I'm glad you enjoy it so much, You can't seem to stop staring at it,” then he laughed hoping to hide any skepticism in his voice.

She finally snapped out of the trance for another moment to reply “I'm really sorry, I just, I don't know, when I look at that there's this feeling that I keep getting which I can't explain to you,” although by the look he gave her he already knew to an extent how she was feeling right now. There was also fear glittering through his expression which made her even more nervous than before. As she was putting the globe back in it's box she felt her heart long for it before it was even fully released from her finger tips, but she let it stay right there in the box as she turned towards Everett.

“So, did I say the gift was really pretty?” she asked stammering over her words

“Yes I think you did Cala, but stop ignoring the huge elephant thats is currently now in that box,” he said a little frustrated with her and unsure why.

“Um, I think you pretty much just butchered that analogy,” she said this trying to lighten the mood, but all it did was ensure how serious he was, “Ok, I'm sorry again, why do you look so upset?”

“I don't know there's just something that's going on with you and that globe,” he said sounding calmer as he let the words fall off his tongue, “I have never seen you react that way towards anything before, it's like your oblivious to anything else around you and more so than usual I might add,” he said with a slight laugh now hoping to relinquish anymore negative energy he had pent up inside.

Cala looked at him kind of shocked by his comment, but he didn't say anything that wasn't true so she tried to not take it to heart and just replied with “I know, it's odd isn't it?” They both just looked at each other for awhile and every so often glanced back at the box.

“It's evident that's something is “odd” here, but what exactly?” Everett asked her now out of pure curiosity.

“Maybe if we open it?” Cala said hopeful

“What do you mean open it?” he said now more confused than ever because he didn't remember any type of latch on it. She then looked at him with uncertainty as she pulled out the necklace she kept hidden beneath her shirt. He watched her hands has she showed him a small round trinket that seemed to match the globes' incision perfectly. Everett assumed before this was just part of the unique design. Cala picked the globe up carefully exhilarated by the feeling of it finally being back in her grasp. She let her fingers trail numbly around the object until the circular divot became more prominent beneath her finger tips. The necklace, which was previously swinging freely around her wrist with every move she made, now seemed to be gravitating towards the globe, almost like it was all of a sudden magnetized.

“Uh, are you seeing what I'm seeing or should I go get immediate help?” Everett asked hopeful yet scared for either answer Cala may provide him with.

Instead of answering Cala just looked at him with an understanding of what he was feeling, but yet an excitement lingered tentatively in the back of her mind that was just itching to be free. Without speaking she gently slid the necklace downward until it was tangling from her pointer finger, moving it closer to the globe. The necklace replied with a magnetized response just like before, but much stronger as it clicked securely into the circular space.

Everett moved closer to Cala now and placed his hand firmly on her arm wishing for her to let it go, fearing the worse at this point. As he knew she would she just moved closer to him without releasing the unpredictable object. She stared longingly now just as he did watching as a green light blazed from every inch of each spiral carving she had been admiring earlier. The green ribbon now fluttering in response to the sudden gust of air and movement which caused the globe to open. Instead of dropping the globe, Cala held it tighter as the light shown through her fingers, her eyes now looking absently among the horizon her hair fluttering violently behind her without any source of wind. Everett held on to her and tried to get her attention, but with no end result he started to try and work on prying her fingers off of the globe which didn't work out either. So with the only things he could do being failed attempts behind him he just braced himself behind her as he held her arms anticipating anything.

Cala felt his presence now, but did not want to go near it, she wanted to keep this feeling that was flowing through her entire body. The more she recognized Everett's hands and his touch though the more she started to slip away from this moment unwilling. While this was happening the light started to fade and the globe started to close. Her grip was gradually getting looser until she dropped it to the ground and with that her body mimicked that of the globes fall. Her sobs evident now as her knees hit the ground beneath her. She then with as much force as she could manage started to punch Everett and slap him and do anything she could to enforce some kind of pain on him to make him feel something close to her pain right now. He just let her do it and then as she tired out he held her to his chest.

They sat there on the ground in front of the maple tree for hours as Everett stroked Cala's hair silently and gently rubbed her back hoping to console the silent whimpers that were still coming from her fragile body. She ended up falling asleep against his chest and once he was sure she was in deep rem sleep he picked up the globe gently, along with the necklace, and set it inside the box and put the cover on it.

What had just happened here? He thought quietly. Why didn't I just buy her a keychain or something? Not wanting to come to terms what he really felt when he picked up the globe in that attic. For now though he just rested his auburn hair against the old maple tree knowing the following days weren't going to be so easy.

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